Total pages in book: 39
Estimated words: 36564 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 183(@200wpm)___ 146(@250wpm)___ 122(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 36564 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 183(@200wpm)___ 146(@250wpm)___ 122(@300wpm)
“Nothin’ to be sorry about. I never thought of anyone asking. Which was stupid. You see a younger me with a woman and you’re genuinely curious.”
“I can make it up to you by telling you what happened. It’s only right you know anyway since you opened your home to me.”
“Only if you want to, honey. Ain’t gonna lie and say I’m not curious, but only to know how likely it is someone’s lookin’ for you. My job in this club is to keep everyone safe. The more information I have, the easier it is to do that job.” That was strictly the truth, but the fact was, I wanted to know what happened so I knew exactly who I had to kill to punish whoever had hurt Annie.
She nodded. “That makes sense.”
“We’ve got all night, Annie. Talk about anything you want.”
“Well, when I met Venus, I was in a camp with my mother.”
“I see. Did you always live there?”
“Since I was four. It was our home. I don’t really remember anything in my life before we moved there, at least, not more than flashes of playing on a playground with other kids or something. When Venus helped me out, she called the place a cult. I’ve read up on cults in the last couple of weeks. It seems she was right.”
“Sounds about what I was thinking. What kind of cult?” It was very hard to keep my voice neutral. If she didn’t remember living anywhere else, then Annie truly was in culture shock. It also explained her issues with time and social awkwardness.
“It’s called Grace of the Divine. Our leader is supposed to be the voice of God, but even being raised there, I had my doubts. I don’t think I was a very good cult member.”
“Honey, trust me when I say that’s a very good thing.”
She eked out a small smile. “Thank goodness, because I thought I was going crazy.”
“Most cults have oppressive rules. They’re designed to keep you too busy to think and to keep you powerless. If you didn’t want a better life, you wouldn’t be human. Everyone questions things that make us suffer. You were right to have doubts.”
“No one there thought so. At least, not many. And those of us who questioned them were kept strictly isolated. They called it reconditioning, but what it was really was punishment until you came around to their way of thinking.” She gripped my hand, adding the other one to it and nervously squeezing.
She continued. “When a girl turned sixteen, they were supposed to be married off to one of the men in the church family. No one wanted me because I was too spirited. That’s how they put it. I was too much work to keep in line. So they sent me for reconditioning. The process usually lasts less than a couple months. Not even that long most of the time. When the church elders are finished with the women they recondition, they come out docile and compliant.”
“How long’d you stay?”
She winced. “Um, well, a couple of years?”
I raised my eyebrows. “A couple of years?”
“Yeah. I’m kind of stubborn.” She said that last very softly, as if ashamed to admit it, but also owning it proudly.
“Ain’t we all, girl.” I tried for a chuckle, but it sounded strained even to myself. This woman… She was breaking my fucking heart. “Is that when Venus found you?”
“Yes. I was making a break for it. I’d gotten out of the wooden box they had me in, but I was so weak from lack of food and water I couldn’t scale the fence. I was so frustrated and close to despair that I’d come so far only to be stopped by my own body. That’s when Venus found me.”
The girl dropped that like it was nothing. She’d managed to get out of the wooden box they’d put her in. Fucking Christ!
“She was in a pink car, sitting on the side of the road. The second I approached the fence, she hurried toward me. I hadn’t been able to get more than one step above the ground before my strength gave out. Venus cut a hole in the fence and helped me out just before one of the brothers grabbed me.
“He followed us through the fence, but Venus snapped his neck like she did that kind of thing every day.”
“You’d probably be surprised at how accurate that assessment is, but please, continue.”
She grinned. “Yeah. She told me she was a trained assassin. I had to ask her what it meant. It’s a little terrifying, but Venus isn’t a bad person. If she was, she wouldn’t have helped me. Not many of the family ever leave the compound, but apparently one of them caught her attention with something he said or did, and she went to investigate. That’s when she learned about me. She was trying to work out how to break me out when I broke myself out.”